Mature cheddar cheese is as effective as fresh yogurt for delivery of viable probiotics to the gastrointestinal tract (GIT)

Cheddar cheese offers a number of advantages as a food carrier for probiotic strains over more traditional fresh products such as yogurts and fermented milks. These include an increased buffering capacity, a more dense matrix and high fat content, which taken together may offer increased protection to the probiotics during passage through the GIT. This study investigates the ability of cheddar cheese compared with yogurt to deliver viable microorganisms of the probiotic Enterococcus faecium strain Fargo 688 (Quest International) to the porcine gut. This strain was found to survive at high levels in both 12-mo old cheddar cheese (4 x [10.sup.8] CFU/g) and 21-d old yogurt (4 x [10.sup.7] CFU/g). Initially, survival of Fargo 688 (from cheddar cheese and yogurt) in gastric juice was compared at low pH values for varying times. Subsequently, these 2 probiotic delivery systems were evaluated in a feeding trial, where 8 pigs/group were fed a rifampicin resistant variant of the probiotic strain at a level of [10.sup.9-1][0.sup.10] CFU/d for 21 d from either cheddar cheese or yogurt. During the feeding trial the strain was excreted at similar levels ([10.sup.6-1][0.sup.8] CFU/g feces) whether ingested from mature cheddar cheese or freshly prepared yogurt. Thus, mature cheddar cheese compares very favorably with fresh yogurt regarding delivery of viable probiotic microorganisms to the GIT, even though the probiotics in cheddar cheese resided there for at least 12 mo.